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BAGHDAD: Iraq’s military condemned overnight US air strikes on Friday, saying they had killed six people and describing them as a violation of sovereignty and a targeted aggression against the nation’s formal armed forces.

The Iraqi foreign minister on Friday has summoned the American and British envoys over the attack.

“The pretext that this attack came as a response to the aggression that targeted the Taji base is a false pretext; one that leads to escalation and does not provide a solution,” Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said in a statement.

“This action is against the will of the Iraqi state and a violation of its sovereignty, it strengthens outlaws. No party has the right to substitute itself for the state, its sovereignty, or its legitimate decisions.”

The US said it carried out the series of strikes on Thursday against an Iran-backed militia in Iraq that it blamed for a rocket attack a day earlier which killed two American troops and a British soldier.

A top US general said on Friday that the threat from Iran still remained high despite the strikes on Thursday.

Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US military's Central Command, said he believed the US retaliatory strikes against five weapons storage facilities in Iraq would deter "future strikes of this nature."

But he did not suggest any easing of the risk from Iran and Iran-backed groups in the days following January's state-on-state exchanges, which saw the United States kill a top Iranian general and Iran's missile strikes in Iraq cause brain injuries in more than 100 US troops.

"I think the threat remains very high. I think the tensions have actually not gone down," McKenzie told a Pentagon news briefing. 

He also said that the strike in Iraq sent a clear message that the US would not tolerate "indirect Iranian attacks with Iranian-supplied weapons."

Three of the dead were Iraqi soldiers and two policemen, the military statement said, adding that 11 Iraqi fighters were also wounded, some of them critically.

The civilian was a cook working at the unfinished Kerbala airport, where another civilian employee was also wounded in the raids.

The Pentagon said Friday it would keep two aircraft carrier task forces in the Gulf region after carrying out strikes in Iraq on five depots for Iran-supplied rockets.
Central Command chief General Kenneth McKenzie said the carrier groups would be staying for a sustained period following a series of attacks on US positions in Iraq by Iranian-backed groups that have ratcheted up tensions with Tehran.

Britain’s foreign minister Dominic Raab said the US-led response to the attack on coalition forces in Iraq was “swift, decisive and proportionate” and warned that anyone seeking to harm those forces could expect a strong response.

“UK forces are in Iraq with coalition partners to help the country counter terrorist activity and anyone seeking to harm them can expect a strong response,” Raab said in a statement on Friday.

The Pentagon said the strikes targeted five weapons stores used by Kataib Hezbollah militants, including facilities housing arms used in past attacks on US-led coalition troops.

Kerbala international airport construction site was hit by an air strike, the management of the Imam Hussein shrine said in a statement. A civilian construction worker was killed.

The airport’s construction is being funded by the shrine management.

“This airport is completely civilian and its construction is overseen by the Imam Huessin Holy Shrine in agreement with several Iraqi companies and by Iraqi civilian workers,” it said.

“The Imam Hussein Holy Shrine condemns this unjustified and blatant assault.”

Later on Friday, Iran warned US President Donald Trump against taking “dangerous actions” after the air strikes.

“The United States cannot blame others... for the consequences of its illegal presence in Iraq and the nation’s reaction to the assassination and killing of Iraqi commanders and fighters,” foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.

“Instead of dangerous actions and baseless accusations, Mr. Trump should reconsider the presence and behavior of his troops in the area,” he added.

The statement was issued hours after the Pentagon said the US had launched strikes against the Kataeb Hezbollah armed faction.